11th Sunday after Pentecost-Proper 13B

11th Sunday after Pentecost-Proper 14B August 8, 2021 I’m going to fill you in on a well-kept secret of all preachers: there’s a fine line between a deep dive on a good sermon illustration and procrastination. Often it is only after the fact that one can tell the difference. This past week, as I was preparing to preach (and possibly procrastinating preparing to preach) about this story about Elijah, I ran across a quote that a seminary classmate had posted on her social media account. This quote got right to what is going on in our Old Testament reading for today, so I saved it to continue to ponder. The quote is “Don’t you want to see what happens if you don’t give up? Don’t you want to see what happens? And that’s what I keep saying to myself and that’s what I say to everyone watching tonight. Don’t you want to see what happens if you don’t give up?”i The quote is attributed to someone named Nightbirde, who I’ve never heard of, so I did what every good preacher does. I went to Google and typed “who is Nightbirde?” But before I tell you more about Nightbirde, let me tell you about what’s going on here with Elijah. This part of Elijah’s story has always fascinated me. Last year, especially, this story rose to prominence as there was a meme that circulated among clergy types that referenced this portion of scripture: “This is your gentle reminder that one time in the Bible, Elijah was like ‘God, I’m so mad! I want to die!’ So God said ‘Here’s some food. Why don’t you have a nap?’ So Elijah slept, ate, and decided things weren’t so bad. Never underestimate the spiritual power of a nap and a snack.” Elijah has just come off a major victory over the prophets of the false god Baal, Yahweh’s biggest rival. Elijah has called down fire from heaven to convince the people that Yahweh is the true God and that they should follow him. The people are looking for a show of strength from God, or any god, as they have struggled through 3 years of drought that has plagued the land. As a result of Elijah’s fire-show, he convinces his audience to follow Yahweh, and Elijah himself kills all the prophets of Baal who have been present at the contest (there were 450), and then it begins to rain showing that the drought is truly ended. But when Queen Jezebel, the patron of the prophets of Baal, hears what Elijah has done, she threatens to find him and kill him, so Elijah flees to the wilderness where our passage for today picks up. But, we also need to be mindful of what happens next, after this passage, and this is where Nightbirde’s quote comes in. It’s almost as if we can here God in this story saying, “Elijah, you really are going to want to see what happens next. Don’t give up now!” Because when Elijah rests and eats, he continues his journey to a cave on the top of Mount Horeb, which is known as the mount of God. There Elijah meets God, face to face, and God tells Elijah exactly what to do next, how to survive this next season. So, what did Google have to say about this person named Nightbirde? Nighbirde, whose real name is Jane Marczewski, is a 30 year-old singer on the show America’s Got Talent. In her audition for AGT, Nightbirde, who has a waifish look about her, is being interviewed by the panel of judges. She shares that Nighbirde is her professional name, and she reveals, in a way that is both casual and optimistic, that she has been fighting cancer for years, and that for her audition, she is singing an original song that is about the last year of her life titled “It’s ok.” So, I listened to her song (deep dive, remember?). The first two times I listened to it, y’all, I just wept. Since we don’t have music today, I’ll play the song for you later in the service, but for now, the chorus goes: “It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay/ if you’re lost, we’re all a little lost and it’s alright/ It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay/ if you’re lost, we’re all a little lost and it’s alright.” ii This week has been hard. In some ways I feel a lot like Elijah. I want to sit down somewhere alone in the middle of nowhere and tell God: “‘It’s enough now, O Lord!’ We’ve tried to be faithful for so long. We’ve stayed away and apart; we’ve gotten vaccinated; we’ve even put our masks back on. And still Covid cases are rising quickly here in Chatham County; the hospitals are dangerously full. We are so tired, and we don’t really know what to do. We had all these wonderful plans for the fall for new life together that would feel even more “normal,” so many fun things that we were working on, and, for at least right now, the most faithful thing seems to be to just stay our current course and to be prepared to pull back if absolutely needed. “It’s ok/ if you’re lost. We’re all a little lost, and it’s alright.” Just this week, Nightbirde announced that she was leaving America’s Got Talent because her health has taken a turn for the worse, and she needs to put all her energy and attention into her fight against cancer. She concludes her announcement with these words: “Thank you for all your support, it means the world to me. Stay with me, I’ll be better soon. I’m planning my future, not my legacy. Pretty beat up, but I’ve still got dreams.” Both Nightbirde and the story about Elijah have been a much-needed reminder for me that agents of God and agents of Hope are all around us, even in the most desolate parts of the wilderness, and sometimes, the most important thing we can do, the most faithful thing we can do is to just keep going. “Don’t you want to see what happens if you don’t give up? Don’t you want to see what happens? And that’s what I keep saying to myself and that’s what I say to everyone watching tonight. Don’t you want to see what happens if you don’t give up?” i. Nightbirde to Chris Cuomo in an interview sometime earlier this week. ii. To hear NIghtbirde’s audition for America’s Got Talent and to read more about her, check this out: https://variety.com/2021/music/news/nightbirde-americas-got-talent-cancer-drops-out-1235032856/